Tag: prison writing

• Why I Have to Mourn

  I started writing about all of my friends and brothers that I’ve lost over the last couple of years, just from this small three unit space. The list itself is too long, and I refuse to just put names into the ether without telling the world a little about each one. Alex was the latest.…

  Robert Hiraeth

  20th November 2025

  Essays & Reflections

  bearing witness, correctional officers, criminal justice reform, grief and loss, incarceration, inside perspective, institutional violence, lived experience, mass incarceration, mental health crisis, mourning, prison conditions, prison grief, prison reform, prison suicide, prison writing, social justice, suicide crisis, systemic failure, Washington State Penitentiary

• Delights

  The sun has set.Behind mountains green and black slopes crisped with silver snow.Once mighty now the blue bows down,dies,decays.From its bones the gloaming glows bruised and bloody hued. It’s a miracle, but they don’t notice. Wrapped ’round a fire built high for warmth.Smokey musk stings eyes alight with flames whilelaughter rides the wind and winds…

  Robert Hiraeth

  9th October 2025

  Poems

  campfire, connection, contemporary poetry, found family, intimacy, loneliness, lyrical poetry, miracle, nature poetry, observation, poetry, prison writing, Robert Hiraeth, sacred space, sunset

• Courage

  This piece of writing placed second in the 2024 PEN America Prison Writing Awards. Courage I don’t remember the Mexican kid’s name anymore but I do remember his age which was 18. He looked young, younger than 18 although he carried himself like a man much older. Let me clarify, he was young and stupid…

  Robert Hiraeth

  4th October 2025

  Short Fiction

  award-winning writing, character study, complicity, contemporary nonfiction, creative nonfiction, criminal justice, first person narrative, incarceration, institutional violence, jail culture, literary nonfiction, masculinity and violence, moral complexity, PEN America award, PEN Prison Writing Award 2024, power dynamics, prison literature, prison writing, survival, witness